William Shakespeare - CLICK HERE FOR THE SMALLER HANDOUT VERSION
Birthplace: Stratford on Avon
Baptized: April 26, 1564 - probably born April 23.
Father: John Shakespeare - glove maker - became bailiff (mayor)
Mother: Mary Arden Shakespeare - from wealthy family - lineage went back to William the Conqueror.

Shakespeare Himself

Schooling
  • probably entered Stratford Grammar School at age 7
  • students spent 11 hours a day, 6 days a week in school
  • students studied Latin grammar, composition and literature, maybe Greek
  • writing and reading English taught at home; spelling was done phonetically
  • teachers were graduates of Oxford University; strict discipline and physical punishment
  • by modern standards, demanding, dull, and strict
Marriage
  • November 17, 1582 to Anne Hathaway (26), Wm (18)
  • First child, Susanna, born May 1583
  • Twins, Hamnet and Judith, born 1585  (Hamnet died young and was indeed part of the inspiration for Hamlet.)
The Lost Years
  • little is known about Shakespeare's life from 1585-1592
1592
  • Shakespeare is living in London without his family
  • an acclaimed actor and established playwright
1593
  • Plague! Clergy blames the evils of society, one of which is considered to be the theatre, and demands that they close. 
  • Actors were left to tour country markets and rural towns.
  • Shakespeare stayed in London to write poetry.  Venus and Adonis (1593), The Rape of Lucrece (1594)
1595
  • Theatres reopen
  • Shakespeare joins "Lord Chamberlain's Men" who eventually become "The King's Men" under James I (1604)
1599
  • The Globe Theatre opened by members of "Lord Chamberlain's Men," including Shakespeare
  • Theatre was fascinating and pretty much the only show in town. Great special effects, cheap seats for the groundlings, festivals, etc . . .
1599-1608
  • Period of extraordinary literary activity for Shakespeare
1612
  • Retired to a new place in Stratford
1616
  • Died: April 23, 1616 of unknown causes

Elizabethan England - The Renaissance

Elizabeth I
  • Queen from 1558 to 1603; 25 years old when crowned
  • the Virgin Queen
  • Incredible and unique leader
The Renaissance
  • European movement centered in Italy but shared throughout most of Europe
  • Rebirth: of the classics and classical
  • Great art, architecture, literature, music, philosophy
Flavor of the Period
  • Optimistic
  • National pride
  • Prosperous
  • Discovery
  • Education
  • Poetry and plays
London
  • Population 200,000
  • commercial and economic center of England; capital
  • important world trade market
  • crowded, unsanitary, hovels for the lower classes; the Court and Affluent flourished
  • no sewer system; no running water
  • plague
  • fire was always a threat with houses so close together
Violence
  • and you thought we were a violent people:
  • beheadings
  • hangings
  • bear and bull baiting; cock fighting
  • dueling
  • theatres used sheep's bladders and blood to create gory special effects
Theatre
  • historians estimate 40,000 people per week attended theatre - roughly 1/5 the entire population of London
  • other pastimes included dancing and drinking at local taverns

Romeo and Juliet & The Craft of the Play

The Sources
  • a poem by Arthur Brooke called The Tragicall Historye of Romeus and Juliet, written in 1562.
  • also could have known the popular tale of Romeo and Juliet from a collection by William Painter, entitled The Palace of Pleasure, approx. 1580
  • various others were similar in plot and theme
The Language
  • is called Elizabethan is considered modern English despite it's obviously different nature from ours
  • is largely written in blank verse - unrhymed iambic pentameter (easy to memorize)
  • uses heroic couplets
  • it is poetry so you have to read it that way - inverted word orders, non-literal language
  • will use straight prose for lower classes or bawdy comedy; sometimes for madness
  • loaded with imagery, figurative language, metaphor, conceit, etc. . .
  • Shakespeare himself invented over 400 words when he couldn't find the right one!
  • Poetry experts use his rhymes to figure out how the language was pronounced.
  • Read as normally as possible, looking only for plot and meaning at first; analyze for the literary techniques separately.
The Themes

o        The Value of Rationality in Problem Solving
o
        The Value of Friendship
o
        The Power of Love
o
        The Individual vs. Society
o
        The Inevitability of Fate

The Techniques

This play is called a tragedy in the classic Greek sense.
**The Greeks did theirs in 3 acts, Shakespeare in 5 - but it's the same and uses the same plot curve we've covered in class. (Note how Acts I-V correspond to the plot curve sections.)
**Technical climax in Act III; Dramatic is subjective though we’ll say it’s the suicide scene for testing purposes.
**Refer to Act, Scene, Line number: (I, ii, 62-64) or (1.2.62-64)

The Chorus:
Soliloquy:
Aside:
Monologue:
Tragic Flaw/Tragic Hero:
iambic pentameter:
blank verse:
couplet:
prose:
comic relief/pun:
oxymoron:
motif:
Embedded Sonnets

Figurative language of all types (metaphors, similes), imagery, allusions (lots to mythology and religion)

Other “Ol’ Familiar” Techniques: foreshadowing, alliteration, dramatic irony

Characterization is key - study the people 

The Play
  • Read a synopsis here.